Student's perceptions of generic skills for effective collaborative learning relative to student achievement

Collaborative and cooperative learning in small groups are generally considered effective learning approaches. Successful group activities, however, assume competence in a range of skills. This empirical paper seeks to identify whether undergraduate students with different levels of academic achievement have different perceptions of the relative importance of Ehrman and Dornyei's (1998) generic sub-skills, i.e. do high performing students emphasise different skills? Students in a first year management subject were surveyed. No differences were found between high achieving and low achieving students in terms of the importance that they place on the various generic sub-skills. Productivity focussed skills were considered most important followed by relationship and communication skills. The implications for preparing students for group work are considered.